From the name of their brand to the labelling of their signature gin, Chelle and Adan Trimmer put their small batch distillery at the heart of their local community.

“To us, it’s all about Wimborne”, said Chelle, who runs Beaucroft Beverages alongside her husband from their home on Beaucroft Road.

“We get an awful lot of people who’ve either lived in Wimborne, or their friends have moved away and they want to send each other presents.

“People see our gin and just love the local side of it. I think everyone does these days, don’t they?”

Pick up a bottle of Minster Gin and you might see why it reminds so many people of home, thanks to the work of Bournemouth-based designer Dan Young of Studio Bank.

“We wanted something that was quite personal”, Chelle explained, “and thought it would be really lovely to incorporate some bits of the Minster.

“So the little emblem on the bottle is the symbol at the top of their tower. And the fanning artwork around the label is from the brickwork in the crypt, underneath the altar.”

That was back in 2019, once the couple decided to get serious about brewing.

Things started off much smaller – and slower – when Adan suddenly found himself with a lot of spare time and a vacant outhouse in the garden practically begging for a side project.

“My husband’s a carpenter by trade”, said Chelle.

“He was about 14 when he started with his dad – he’s been building his whole life.

“Then he popped a disc in his back and ended up flat for a couple of months, really out of action. He needed something to alleviate the boredom.”

Adan jumped down the YouTube rabbit hole, eventually stumbling upon videos about distilling gin at home.

“He started looking into it and thought, ‘I might have a go at that’.

“We got a tiny little still which made five bottles at a time, and we did okay.

“Adan was running it every other day, though, and it’s quite a long process. He starts at about six in the morning and finishes eight o’clock at night.”

Beaucroft Beverages has always been a part-time business for the couple, with Adan heading up his own building contractors and Chelle lending a helping hand around being a full-time mum.

Minster Gin also sponsors Colehill Cricket Club and Wimborne Folk Festival

But having jumped through so many hoops just to get the distillery off the ground, it only made sense to scale up their cottage industry and start providing for the whole town.

“We thought, right, we’re going to do this properly”, said Chelle.

“Had our labels made with Berkshire Labels, bought a bigger still. Now we run once a week and make 30-odd bottles at a time, which is just perfect for what Wimborne needs.

“We started growing a bit of interest and our first shop was Farehouse Trading Co.

“There’s also the Wimborne Pig restaurant, who are wonderful. Jamie goes out foraging and he’s always using local produce.

“And the East Street Deli. They’re what I would call the heart of Wimborne.”

While theirs is largely a local story, the new and improved equipment was actually brought in from overseas.

“The still is made by a German company called StillDragon”, Chelle explained.

“It’s a kit that you can fit yourself – it comes with clamps and tubes, all stainless steel.

“So Adan could make it to his own specifications. Our setup and our recipe are unique to us.

“We buy in neat alcohol, then add it into our still with a botanical basket that holds all of our junipers and lemon peel and all 10 botanicals that we use.

“That gets filtered through and then what comes out is the gin.”

Swap that botanical basket for some copper packing to filter out any impurities, and you end up with a different spirit altogether.

That’s how Stour Vodka came to join the Beaucroft Beverages range in June of last year, with a label referencing Julian’s Bridge – also, of course, in Wimborne Minster – designed by Sharon Smith.

“It’s got a tiny little piece of Madagascan vanilla”, said Chelle, “and all we do is pop that into our vodka and it flavours it.”

As for their original recipe: “The orange gin has always been our bestseller. We go into Minster Greens in Wimborne for their oranges.

“We also do a black gin with blackberry, but that’s only seasonal.”

Although Adan has experimented with plenty of other flavours over the years, the couple are keeping things simple while the business is still small-scale. No special orders or dozens of different products.

Still – Chelle is leaving the door open for the future of Beaucroft.

“It’s just trying to fit everything in”, she added.

“It could be an evolving business. And I think one day it will be – when we’ve both got a bit more time!”

• beaucroftbeverages.com

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